Benmoussa said several of Bellirajs followers traveled to Afghanistan in 2001 to train alongside militants who founded a Moroccan group there with the blessing and financial help of Al Qaeda leader Osama binLaden.

Commenting on the arrests on September 1, Minister Benmoussa said in a statement, "The members of this group were planning terrorist attacks targeting tourist sites, strategic government facilities and foreign holdings, and assassinations of prominent figures for political or moral reasons.

Benmoussa said the group had carried outcrimes internationally Police found at least 34 weapons, including Israeli-made Uzi and Kalashnikov assault rifles and machine guns, in raids onhomes and offices of the suspects.

Interior Minister Chakib Benmoussa said the group had created a paramilitary branch which chose mountainous areas in northern Morocco to train its followers for a holy war and obtain arms with the help of local drug barons.

On Thursday Chakib Benmoussa was briefing members of the House of Representatives' Commission of the Interior, Decentralization and Infrastructures, and was referring to the recent dismantle of an alleged terrorist group, called "Jamaat Ansar el Mehdi" whose members are in custody.

Interior Minister Chakib Benmoussa said the funding would support several projects designed to reduce poverty in the region and point out the country's sovereignty over Western Sahara, the Med Basin Newsline reported Tuesday.

js */FREuropean CommissionEDD 2008ChakibBENMOUSSAHomepageWelcomeMedia cornerNewsletterPrevious editionsEDD: THE FORUMAbout the forumPractical detailsAgendaDevelopment villageTwinningParticipantsPanellistsEDD: THE 'OFF'About the 'OFF'CompetitionsChakib BENMOUSSAInterior Minister of MoroccoChakib Benmoussa is the current Interior Minister of Morocco and the lead negotiator for the Moroccan side in the Western Sahara conflict.

However, Moroccan Minister of the Interior Chakib Benmoussa said Saturday that Belgian intelligence clearly "knew" Abdelkader Belliraj, though he added the terrorist was "apparently a master of deception.

Human rights activists have accused authorities of detaining innocent people and using torture in the campaign, but Interior Minister Chakib Benmoussa was quoted by the official MAP news agency as saying the latest arrests showed the need for strong anti-terrorism operations.

The members of this group were planning terrorist attacks targeting tourist sites, strategic government facilities and foreign holdings, and assassinations of prominent figures for political or moral reasons," Benmoussa said in a statement.

Marrakesh,Morocco - International terrorism, drug and other criminal networks are extending their areas of operation, making police cooperation across frontiers more necessary than ever, MoroccanInterior Minister Chakib Benmoussa said Monday.

yahooBuzzArticleSummary = "Marrakesh,Morocco - International terrorism, drug and other criminal networks are extending their areas of operation, making police cooperation across frontiers more necessary than ever, MoroccanInterior Minister Chakib Benmoussa said Monday.

The arrests in the Hay al-Farah neighborhood came a day after Interior Minister Chakib Benmoussa said authorities were still searching for "three or four suspects" allegedly linked to the bombers in Tuesday\'s attack that stoked new fears of terrorism in the North African kingdom.

var RTR_ArticleBlurb = " CASABLANCA, April 11 (Reuters) - Bomb blasts in Morocco and Algeria in the past two days were the uncoordinated work of different terrorist groups, Moroccan Interior Minister Chakib Benmoussa said on Wednesday.

CASABLANCA, April 11 (Reuters) - Bomb blasts in Morocco and Algeria in the past two days were the uncoordinated work of different terrorist groups, Moroccan Interior Minister Chakib Benmoussa said on Wednesday.

On Aug 31, Interior Minister Chakib Benmoussa said at a press conference that suspects were believed to be part of a group called Ansar el-Mehdi (the "Mehdi Partisans" or "Mehdi Support Group") that had been planning strikes against tourist destinations, government installations, foreign businesses and prominent Moroccans -- including several politicians.

Benmoussa said the "Belliraj" network had been founded in 1992, and had established links with GICM (Groupe Islamique Combattant Marocain), the group which carried out the Madrid train bombings of March 11, 2004, killing 191 people.